Grace Rwanda, through PREFER, has supplied GS Cyuve and GS Karinzi,
secondary schools in the Cyuve Sector that will be accepting grades S 4, 5 & 6
for the first time, with the following supplies:

2 wooden bookcases with locking doors
1 television set
1 DVD/cd player
1 stereo player with speakers
Teacher manuals w/cd lessons
Student text books
Total per school
$1000.00usd

We took both head masters to Kigali to purchase their supplies. They were
both so very excited to have this opportunity to stock their schools with better
books and equipment than they had ever hoped for.

As we all spend time reflecting on the events of this past year, Grace Rwanda would like to take the opportunity to update you on how your generous financial contributions during 2011 helped change the lives of children in rural Rwanda.

Completed Projects 2011

Kitchen

Starting in August 2011, Grace Rwanda undertook the construction of a new kitchen facility for a 1500 students elementary school in Rwinkwavu, Rwanda.  The new facility, along with our donation of two cows enables the school to provide the children with a lunch that consists of porridge, fresh vegetables, and African tea.

Mini-Libraries

Five education facilities–four schools and one orphanage– were outfitted with Mini-Libraries consisting of a standing cupboard filled with a variety of English language books.  The language of instruction in Rwanda has recently changed from French to English, and schools are desperate for English language materials.

Latrines

Sixteen new latrines at the school in Rwinkwavu help reduce the risk of illness by providing children with clean and and sanitary facilities. The ability to provide segregated facilities is also an incentive to help keep the older girls attending school.

Projects for 2012

Grace Rwanda is committed to continuing providing elementary schools with Student Resources Mini-Libraries within the Eastern Province of Rwanda. Each Mini-Library cost $1,500 and provides basic reading materials for an elementary school.

Grace Rwanda looks forward to continuing our work in Rwanda and hope that we can also count on your continued patronage.

Your donations are needed by, and truly do make a difference to, the children of Rwanda

Tax receipts will be issued for donations of $10.00 or more.  Donations can be made in two ways:

1) Donate online: http://www.gracerwanda.org/donate/

2) Mail a cheque dated before December 31, 2011

Grace Rwanda Society
#46, 8675 209 Street
Langley, British Columbia, V1M 3W6
info@gracerwanda.org
604-418-4101

Wishing you a season of peace and joy,
Grace Rwanda Society

Making change in Rwanda
By Manisha Krishnan, North Shore News June 8, 2011

When bad things happen, the natural human instinct is to try to forget about them.

But sometimes, it can be crucial to remember, so that history doesn’t repeat itself. In the case of the Rwandan Genocide, the latter is true.

The Grace Rwanda Society, a B.C.-based non-profit organization that started up last spring, is dedicated to raising awareness about the genocide and supporting the educational system in Rwanda.

“The main reason we’re focusing on education is from the experience of our founders who are both genocide survivors. They strongly believe that part of the reason this happened was because you had a lot of illiteracy and a lot of uneducated young boys who were easily influenced to pick up a machete and go kill people just because they were told to do that,” says Franco Bordignon, a North Vancouver resident and president of Grace Rwanda.

The Rwandan Genocide happened in 1994, as a result of ethnic tensions between the minority Tutsi and the majority Hutu, who were in power at the time. The killings, which are estimated to have reached between 800,000 and 1 million, came after the 1990 civil war between the two groups. Through the use of propaganda, the Hutu-led government encouraged the elimination of Tutsis and pro-peace Hutus, who were said to be dangerous and untrustworthy.

It was an ordeal that changed the lives of Grace Rwanda founders Elizabeth Mujawamaliya Johnson, 43, and Marie Louise Kaligirwa, 44, who both currently reside in Langley, B.C.

Johnson and Kaligirwa were childhood friends who went to the same high school in the small village of Rwinkwavu. After graduation, they had no contact with each other and when the turmoil began, both assumed the other was dead.

In reality, Johnson’s father, two brothers, sister and seven of her nieces and nephews had been killed. But by sheer luck she and her daughter managed to survive, escaping a church filled with thousands of civilians who were almost all murdered.

“In my mind I was dead, because I was counting every second and every minute waiting for a machete, a club or (if lucky), a bullet. I was not expecting to survive,” says Johnson.

Kaligirwa, on the other hand, had married a Hutu and it ended up being her ticket to safety, as he paid off whomever he could to protect her. However, her two brothers and two sisters were all killed and her parents were already dead.

In the late ’90s, both women made their way to Canada, unbeknownst to each other. It wasn’t until Kaligirwa visited Vancouver while she was still living in Calgary that she found out about Johnson. Eventually the two reconnected and Kaligirwa moved to B.C.

“We are now like sisters because we shared the pain. Now we are sharing the joy of going back in Rwanda and help even helping those who killed our own family members,” says Johnson.

When Bordignon first met Johnson and Kaligirwa and heard their stories first-hand, he was deeply moved.

After spending some time together, the three of them began making moves towards forming Grace Rwanda. Last spring they gained charitable status and visited a small school in Rwinkwavu, which they’re committed to helping. So far, the money they’ve raised has gone towards creating an additional eight classrooms at the school.

They’re now working on building toilets — there are currently only eight to serve 1,400 kids — and constructing a new kitchen and library.

“Most of the children, the only meal they have is at the school . . . and that’s why some parents actually send their kids to school because they don’t have to worry about feeding them that day,” says Bordignon, explaining the current kitchen is a tiny, temporary shelter.

Despite all of the hardships that they face, Johnson said that there is still hope in Rwanda.

“We need to move from the wrong committed by our people and prove that we can rebuild our country. Reconciliation is the only remedy to a peaceful mind,” she says.

The society has held several events to reach out to the community, and recently St. Thomas Aquinas High School in North Vancouver donated more than $12,000 to the cause.

Next up, Grace Rwanda is hosting an awareness night featuring the Frontline documentary Ghosts of Rwanda, which examines how the Western world stood by as the massacre took place. Johnson and Kaligirwa will also share their moving stories of survival. The event takes place Sunday, June 12, 7 p.m. at North Lonsdale United Church, 3380 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver. Admission is free but donations are welcome. For more information go to www.gracerwanda.org.

© Copyright (c) North Shore News

Read more: http://www.nsnews.com/news/Making+change+Rwanda/4911974/story.html#ixzz1RO9YRqXg

Read the full article in The Province

Upholding the Truth, Preserving Dignity

Please come and join the Rwanda Community of BC in remembering the victims of the genocide. The event will present speeches on the occasion, showcase a new film called “Iyususamo” which reflects on what took palce in Rwanda in 1994 and thereafter and poems will be recited in honour/memory of the victims.

Saturday April 16th, 2011
2:00pm – 6:00pm
Douglas College New Westminster Campus
700 Royal Ave., New Westminster BC
1 Block from New West Skytrain Stn.
604.512.2178

Capilano University and Grace Rwanda Society present “As We Forgive”, an award winning documentary from Laura Walters Hinson about the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. Saturday April 9th, 6-9PM

My Neighbor, My Killer is an award winning documentary ilm by Anne Aghion on the Gacaca (local courts) Justine in Rwanda.

AND WHY NOT? If you had to share a single open pit toilet with 175 other kids you would too! There are 1,400 students at the school in Rwinkwavu, Rwanda. They share 8 latrines.

Community leaders in Rwinkwavu say that giving children access to basic sanitation is their greatest need. To meet this need Grace Rwanda has proposed a 16-hole latrine which will triple the number of toilets currently available. A hole for the latrine has already been prepared by the community.

Download PDF version of the brochure.

Grace Rwanda at the Fort Langley Cranberry Festival. October 9th, 2010

Please come and visit our info table on Saturday, October 9th – 9 am to 5 pm

At The 15th Annual Fort Langley Cranberry Festival

For more information please visit: http://www.cranberryfest.ca

Miracle in Rwanda

Leslie Lewis Sword brilliantly transforms herself into a host of characters to tell the incredible story of Rwandan Genocide Survivor, Immaculée Ilibagiza, a real life messenger of hope.

Grace Rwanda supports the play, Miracle in Rwanda, based on the book “Left to Tell” by Immaculée Ilibagiza, telling the story of how she survived during the Rwanda genocide in 1994. The story also represents what other Rwandan survivors had to live through including Elizabeth and Marie Louise, Grace Rwanda Society’s Co-Founders.

Special Performance on September 29

Proceeds from this performance will benefit Grace Rwanda Society projects in Rwanda. Join us on Wednesday, September 29 for this incredible production.

Dates and Ticket Information after the link…

VENUE
The Revue Stage at The Arts Club Theater
1585 Johnston Street, Granville Island, Vancouver BC
(next to the Public Market)

TICKETS:
Performances from September 28 to October 10
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE